MUMBAI: Entering only its second day in theaters around the world, Warner Bros. Pictures’ Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is breaking both industry and studio box office records.
The announcement was made today by Dan Fellman, President of Domestic Distribution, and Veronika Kwan-Rubinek, President of International Distribution, Warner Bros. Pictures.
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix set a new industry record for a Wednesday opening with $44.2 million (previous record was $40.4 million in 2004). This gross includes the film’s $12 million take from midnight shows, also an industry record.
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix also stormed the international box office, taking in an estimated $29.2 million for Wednesday from 29 countries. The film garnered the biggest industry opening day in both Holland and Belgium, and the second-highest opening in France, Italy and Brazil.
Additionally, the film had the biggest opening for the Harry Potter franchise in 22 countries, including France, Italy, Spain, Holland, Belgium, Australia, Korea and Brazil. The international figure does not include the UK and Mexico, both of which opened the film today, and Japan, which goes into sneaks on Saturday.
The film continues to break the studio’s own domestic release records, as Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is now Warner Bros. Pictures’ top-grossing midnight show, top-grossing single day, and top-grossing opening of the “Harry Potter” franchise to date.
Warner Bros. Pictures opened the film domestically in 4,285 locations and more than 9,000 screens, the widest release pattern ever for any Warner Bros. film. In addition, Warner Bros. has generated the greatest overall number of prints for Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, with over 22,000 prints going to exhibitors around the world. Worldwide, it is also the largest digital cinema release to date for any Warner Bros. title with over 1350 screens.
On the IMAX front, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix also shattered industry records, becoming the biggest IMAX opening with $1.9 million on 90 North American screens, which includes a record-breaking midnight show of $450,000. The film will open on 126 IMAX screens worldwide – 91 of those in the US, with many featuring the final scenes of the film in IMAX 3D – more than any previous release.
